I grew up backpacking in the Rockies. I hike ranges
throughout Arizona and Colorado year round. I carry a light pack,
mostly water. I prefer a tarp shelter to my heavier 2-person
tent. I do many day hikes and I also spend as many as 5 days out
at a time. Temperatures range from below freezing to above 100 F
(38 C), and elevations from 2,000 ft to 14,000 ft (610 m to 4, 300
m). I bag a mountain almost every weekend, and I walk my dogs 4
miles (6 km) daily through deep sand and overgrown mesquite trees in our local
washes.

I was immediately impressed by the sleek look and sturdy feel of the
Gerber Instant Knife. The layered G-10 composite handle looks
very tough and seems to grip well in my hand. The handle has four
slits of various sizes cut into it. I'm not sure if this is for a
special purpose, or if it is just to cut down on weight. The
Gerber website does not mention anything in regards to this. The
slits have a slightly sharp edge, maybe I could cut some fishing line
with them. Regardless of their purpose, I think they add a cool
look to the knife so I will leave it at that. The handle is held
together by two hex bolts near the base, and one large hex bolt at the
pivot where the blade opens. The belt clip is mounted just above
the pivot bolt and extends down to the first slit in the handle,
partially covering the pivot bolt. The design of the Instant
makes it ideal to clip inside my pocket on my right side. If I
were to want to carry it on my left side in this fashion, I would need
to flip the knife over to open it. It seems it would be easier to
clip the knife to the outside of the pocket or maybe to my belt if I
were to carry it on the left side. I have my doubts about how
long the clip will keep its tension based on my past experiences with
similar knives. Generally after a while I have to unscrew the
clip and attempt to bend it back into position so that the knife will
stay connected to my pants.

The
thumb stud is mounted near the base of the blade in a great spot for
convenient opening. As I slide my right thumb to the left, the
assisted opening 2.0 mechanism opens the blade quickly and
smoothly. It clicks into place making that sound of a knife
opening that I like so much. For me it is fun just to open the
blade again and again just to hear this sound! The thumb plunge
lock is a cool feature. Instead of looking for a piece of metal
to move over or push down so that I can close the blade, I simply push
the button with my thumb and the blade drops about halfway. There
is a small metal rod inside the handle that stops the blade before it
chops my fingers and then by adding a little pressure the blade
closes. I think this rod must also serve as the spring for the
2.0 assisted opening mechanism.

The Stainless Steel blade is all black except for a Gerber logo next to
the thumb stud and the sharp edge. The logo on the blade looks to
me like a sword stuck in a diamond, or maybe a stone. The edge of
the blade seems quite sharp. The edge runs from the tip of the
blade following a wide curve towards the handle. There is about a
1 in (2.5 cm) section at the base of the blade that has been cut into a
serrated edge, a great attribute to the blade in my opinion. The
top of the blade above the logo has 6 small grooves cut into it that
add to the overall grip of the knife while in use. They are
paralleled by 5 small grooves on the handle that serve the same
purpose. I did notice some discrepancy in the measurements of the
knife when I
compared the packaging and the Gerber website. I listed the
information from the packaging in my product information and
specifications section because it
was the most accurate compared to my measurements.

Summary:

So far I like the knife! It feels very light in my hand and it
seems to grip well. It is a comfortable size in my hand and feels
naturally easy to open. I like the shape of the blade and the
overall look of the knife. The serrated edge is a feature I have
found very useful in past knives, so I look forward to working with
it. I am a bit worried that the blade may open up while in my
pocket due to how well the assisted opening mechanism works, but I will
have to wait and see. I can't wait to get out there and play with
this knife!

Things I like:

1. Sleek look
2. Lightweight
3. Easy opening

Concerns:

1. Will the belt clip keep its integrity or will I have to adjust it over time?
2. Will the blade open up inside my pocket?

Field Report:

Field Conditions:

I carry the Instant daily around town as well as in the
backcountry. Below are a few of the backpacking trips I have
carried the blade on.

I took an overnight trip to the Santa Rita Mountains in Coronado
National Forest, Arizona. The elevation ranged from 4,500 ft to
7,080 ft (1,370 m to 2,158 m) and the temperature ranged from 15 F to
45 F (-9 C to 7 C).

I went on another overnight trip to the Wilderness of Rocks in Coronado
National Forest, Arizona. The elevation ranged from 7,280 ft to
9,080 ft (2,219 ft to 2,768 m) and the temperature ranged from 25 F to
50 F (-4 C to 10 C).

I carried the knife on a 22 m (35 km) segment of the Arizona Trail
starting in Patagonia Arizona. The trip was 2 days and 1
night. The elevation ranged from around 4,100 ft to around 6,400
ft (1,250 m to 1,951 m) and the temperature ranged from 20 F to 55 F
(-7 C to 13 C).

Performance in the Field:

The Gerber Instant Knife has performed decently. I can't say that
I am totally satisfied, or that I am totally unsatisfied. My
initial concerns about the belt clip wearing out did not turn out
exactly as I had anticipated, however it still had some pretty serious
problems. I was concerned that the clip would stretch out and no
longer hold the knife onto my pants but that did not happen. What
did occur is that after dropping the knife once from about waist
height, the entire clip broke off. Then I had to carry the knife
in my pocket loosely. The bolts that held the clip in place
snapped during the fall. I was surprised by this because many of
my knives get dropped, sometimes often while being used consistently.

The blade has held its strength and sharpness. I have no
complaints about this. I have used the knife to open boxes, to
cut into packages, to cut meat and cheese, and various other
things. It has been in my pocket on many backpacking trips and
has served me well cutting food and carving sticks to pass the
time. I have managed to put a few small scratches on the blade
but nothing too deep. Mostly the scratches have just worn off the
black coating, but never gone into the metal. The serrated edge
has proven very effective at sawing through rope for projects around
the house and at campsites.

The G-10 composite handle is still very strong. I really like the
grip that it gives while working with the blade. It has held up
to a decent amount of abuse and proven an adequate beer bottle
opener. There are a few small scratches from the bottle caps, but
to my surprise, nothing very deep at all.

The biggest issues I have had involved the assisted opening
mechanism. Initially the knife opened a bit too easily. I
can count the amount of times the blade has opened inside my pocket on
two hands. This is not something that makes me very happy,
especially when I realize it has just opened while my two year old is
on my lap. Luckily no one has been injured, and my clothes have
not been damaged. The second problem proved to be a game
ender. I pushed the blade open and out of nowhere the thumb
plunge suddenly went flying. To say that I was surprised is an
understatement. I spent about ten minutes trying to find the
plunge in the dirt. When I did find it I figured that it could
easily be put back into place, but in fact it could not. The
plunge does not stay in place and falls out easily now. Without
it in place, the blade does not stay open and is useless for anything
past drawing in the sand. Wow what a bummer. It is too bad
that the entire function of the knife depends on the small little thumb
plunge. I was really liking the knife before this happened.
I always carry a similar knife and I have been doing so for years and
this is the first knife that became utterly useless without any
cause. I have to say I am disappointed in Gerber and disappointed
in the Instant at this point.

Customer Service:

I emailed Gerber in regards to their warranty information. I
received a response the following day that contained a paragraph about
normal wear and tear and such. I felt that the mood of their
letter sounded as if they did not want to replace the knife, but they
did provide me with an address to ship the Instant to be
examined. The company did not offer to pay for shipping costs or
to reimburse me.

I received a phone call from a representative about two weeks after
sending in my knife. This came after several emails were only
answered with the stock message alerting me that they had indeed
received a message from me. I was happy to hear that Gerber would
replace the knife. They told me that the Instant was back ordered
and offered me a credit of equal value or to wait for my knife to come
back in stock. I chose to wait for the Instant so that I could
continue the testing process. My new knife came about one week
later.

The Replacement Knife:

I got the knife out of the packaging and flicked the blade open.
I noticed that this knife was much harder to open than the first
knife. I also noticed that the thumb plunge did not protrude from
the handle near as much as it did on the first knife, it also seemed a
lot more stiff and difficult to use. Next I looked at the edge on
the blade and saw what looked to me like a noticeably larger area of
stainless steel showing past the black color. In my experience,
this can be a sign of a blade that has been sharpened after the
original sharpening. I also noticed that on the belt clip side of
the blade, the number 1212 was imprinted near the thumb stud. The
original knife had no number there at all. My first thought was
that the knife may be a refurbished product and not a new one. I
have no way of telling for sure, but the action of the opening
mechanism is considerably more stiff and I really have to push hard
with my thumb to get the assisted opening mechanism to engage and
close. As of yet, the belt clip on the new blade has not had any
problems.

Summary:

Overall I still like the knife. It is not as smooth feeling as
the original but still seems like a good blade for the cost. I
have my doubts about the longevity of the Instant due to my experiences
with the first one I got, and due to the sluggishness of the assisted
opening mechanism on the replacement blade. I suspect I received
a refurbished blade as a replacement, but I can't tell for sure.

1. Blade opens in my pocket
2. Belt clip couldn't hold up to a single drop from about waist high
3. Replacement knife opens sluggishly
4. Replacement thumb plunge requires a lot of force to engage

Long Term Report:

Field Conditions:

I have carried the Gerber Instant on all of my recent backpacking
outings. I have also carried it as an everyday tool. I have
used it for many things from opening boxes, cutting cordage and
cleaning my finger nails. Some
of my backpacking outings are listed below.

I took the knife on a 2-day 1-night trip to the Catalina Mountains
north of Tucson, Arizona. The elevation was around 7,500 ft (2,286 m) and
the temperature ranged from 25 F to 55 F (-4 C to 13 C).

I also used the knife on an overnight trip to the Santa Rita Mountains
south of Tucson, Arizona. The elevation ranged from around 5,000 ft to around
8,000 ft (1,524 m to around 2,438 m) and the temperature ranged
from 30 F to 45 F (-1 C to 7 C).

The knife was also carried on an overnight car camping trip to the
Rincon Mountains east of Tucson, Arizona. The elevation was around 6,500
ft (1,981 m) and the temperature ranged from 35 F to 50 F (2 C to 10 C).

Performance in the Field:

I feel I need to be objective in reporting back on this knife because I
have mainly had problems with it during everyday use. Generally
while I am on a trail the knife is in my pocket, not being used.
Since I
write reviews on products for backpacking on this site I feel that it
is important to say that most of
my experiences while backpacking were good. The knife cut through
food well, scraped the bark off small branches decently, and stabbed
into tree stumps without much force. The knife generally stayed
clipped to my pocket except for after the clip weakened and became very
stretched out. Again, I feel that while
backpacking I am mostly upright and walking, so this was not a huge
issue. It wasn't until the knife was used extensively for
everyday use that I began to have problems.

The stretched out belt clip became a problem after nearly a month of
being clipped to my pocket daily. Bending the clip back to shape
did no good, even
if I unscrewed it from the handle and over stretched it with
pliers. These attempts seemed to just weaken the clip more.
Toward the end of the testing period the only thing holding the Instant
to my pocket was gravity itself. I did noticed that the blade
would open in my pocket a lot
more often after the clip was stretched and the knife had freedom to
wobble about. The clips lack of strength eventually led to the
knife falling out of my pocket while sitting in a loud restaurant, and
I was never able to recover it. I will note that the testing
period had finished when this happened. Of course it fell from my pocket
about a week after the testing period was finished but it was the
second knife I received from Gerber. In actuality, each knife
lasted far less than the four month testing period.

Although the point of the Instant sticks into wood easily, a fairly
flimsy piece of painted drywall managed to bend the point. I
can't express my shock in seeing this adequately here. I remember
loudly exclaiming something along the lines of "you gotta be kidding
me," but I think there were a few other words mixed in.
Again I feel I must be objective because the tip never failed while
backpacking, but I like to be able to keep a knife as a tool on me at
all times. I never use them for tasks that I feel they would have
any problem with, or that would abuse them. Since drywall is just
dust filled paper and paint is measured in millimeters, I really didn't
expect what I saw. I can say without a doubt that this moment changed my opinion of Gerber in a big way.

The blade of the Instant has remained strong, but not especially
sharp. Certain things like cloth mesh or thin nylon rope it can
still cut through with ease. Other things like the plastic rings
that hold a six pack of beer together seem to take a monumental effort
to cut through.

My personal opinion is that this knife being mass produced for Gerber
in China has had the effect of providing a less durable tool that falls
apart easily. I have had Gerber blades in the past that I
swore by and have kept sharp for years, but I noticeably did not find
the words made in China anywhere on them. Unfortunately when a tool is mass produced to save production cost,
quality often goes out the window. I'm glad that I used
this knife on an everyday basis and not just as a backpacking accessory
because I may not have seen how flimsy the knife truly is during the
course of the test. This is a situation where looks can be
deceiving. The Instant looks like such a tough knife, but my use
during this testing period has shown me otherwise.

Summary:

When I compare the Instant to similar knives from other trusted
companies, I find many stronger and longer lasting blades that
sometimes cost about half of what the Instant is retailing for. I
hope that Gerber goes back to the drawing board with this one because
they have a lot of time honored customers who still have nothing but
trust in the Gerber brand. I think this same knife being built
stronger would keep me satisfied for a long time to come.

Product tested and reviewed in each Formal Test Report has been provided free of charge by the manufacturer to BackpackGearTest.org. Upon completion of the Test Series the writer is permitted to keep the product. Owner Reviews are based on product owned by the reviewer personally unless otherwise noted.